Bayfield, WI
Bayfield, WI's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Bayfield's 594 buildings earn a 12th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Bayfield at the 13th percentile, close to its 12th-percentile risk score.
Bayfield's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Bayfield's buildings (90.6%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
Where Bayfield ranks
Bayfield scores 12th nationally and 11th within Wisconsin — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bayfield ranks 27,625 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 15,921 by building count (1 is largest). Within Wisconsin alone, it ranks 717 of 808 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Wisconsin on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Bayfield
Bayfield's low wildfire rating (12th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Bayfield (90.6% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Bayfield's figures come from
Bayfield's 12th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Bayfield's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.